Health surveillance officer using devices to check temperature of passengers before the immigration counters at International airport in Hong Kong,on Saturday (Jan 4). Hong Kong authorities activated a newly created "serious response" level Saturday as fears spread about a mysterious infectious disease that may have been brought back by visitors to a mainland Chinese city. - AP
HONG KONG: Hong Kong on Saturday (Jan 4) unveiled a plan to deal with infectious diseases after a mysterious pneumonia outbreak in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
The government classified the response level as "serious” -- the second-highest scale of action in its three-tier system, with the top-most being emergency, according to a statement from the Department of Health. The current classification estimates the immediate health impact on the local population to be moderate.
The public hospitals in Hong Kong have reported eight patients, aged from four to 50, who have been to Wuhan and shown fever and respiratory infection or pneumonia symptoms, according to a statement from the Hospital Authority.
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